The Eco-Pragmatist: Why should your company track its carbon footprint?

First off, this post assumes the reader has a basic understanding of what constitutes a corporate carbon footprint. But just to be safe - at a high-level - a corporate carbon footprint consists of two primary categories:

• Direct emissions from sources owned or controlled by your company -- such as emissions from company manufacturing facilities, operational processes and company vehicles.
• Indirect emissions that are the result of company activities, but from sources not directly owned by the company -- such as emissions attributed to purchased energy, outsourced activities, employee travel, and emissions resulting from the use of company products.

So why measure your corporate carbon footprint?

There are some very compelling reasons from a pure bottom-line impact perspective:

• The carbon your company burns costs money! For all the momentum the carbon footprint management imperative has, the basic fact that it is another way of viewing company expenses is often over-looked or glossed over.
• It provides an alternate, more holistic view of company expenses. By viewing expenses through the carbon footprint lense, you have the ability to spot inefficiencies within your business - from suppliers, to operations, to sales & distribution. Carbon footprint metrics will shine a different light on your overall cost structure.
• Carbon footprint management helps drive goal alignment throughout your organization, providing different areas of the business with a common objective. One caveat applies here - it is imperative to have proper oversight and emphasis on the corporate level goal. Incent business units to collaborate to produce the largest benefit to the corporate entity, not just their silo.
• Increased employee engagement. Employees are weary of the constant emphasis on cost-cutting. But a TRUE shift towards sustainability can significantly improve employee engagement by focusing on reducing the corporate carbon footprint. Another caveat - the focus on carbon footprint can NOT be a 'different spin on cost management' or 'greenwashing' without risking an opposite, negative effect on employee engagement.

There you have it - four great business reasons for managing your company's carbon footprint - and not one of them has anything to do with positively impacting people or planet.

Remember - the triple bottom line includes YOUR bottom line!